Ortiz says supplements may be cause for test

Speaking alongside the Major League Baseball Players Association general counsel Michael Weiner, Red Sox DH David Ortiz said he was ‘a little bit careless back in those days when I was buying supplements and vitamins over the counter’ but insists he never bought or used steroids. Ortiz said he did meet with Weiner in 2004 for a short meeting but was never told he tested positive for steroids.

– Ortiz said that once he found out that one of the supplements he was taking was banned he stopped taking it.

“I consider myself one of the guys that I definitely was a little bit careless back in those days when I was buying supplments and vitamins over hte counter, legal supplments or legal vitaments over the conter,” he said. “But I never used steroids.”

– Asked why he didn’t say he never bought or took steroids when initially confronted with the news, Ortiz said he wanted to get all the facts soon. Weiner said, “If it was simply up to David he would have been up there a lot sooner than he was today”, pointing out that the union encouraged the Sox slugger to wait.

– Ortiz said he was tested 15 or more times since the 2003 test, plus two more times for the World Baseball Classic, and never came up positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

– He said he obtained the supplements and vitamins in both the United States and Dominican Republic.

– Weiner clarified that a maximum of 96 players could have tested positive for the 2003 test for performance-enhancing drugs, not the 104 as was previously reported. Weiner went on to say that as few as 83 could be the number of positive tests, with as many as 13 of the tests being classified as inconclusive by the union, but because the 83 would be enough to trigger the new testing policy the exact number wasn’t further pursued.

– Weiner pointed out that Ortiz is not aware of anything regarding the 2003 test results.

– Ortiz wouldn’t like to see any of the other names on the list come out, pointing out his frustration of the lack of information he could get from the union and not wishing that frustration on anybody else.